Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Milos Forman

In 1975, Forman had his first big hit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, about life in a psychiatric ward, which won him an Oscar as best director. In 1979, he directed Hair, based on the Broadway musical but it did not do well financially. In 1981, he directed Ragtime, based on a novel by E.L. Doctorow, and in 1985, he won another Academy Award for directing  Amadeus, about the life of Mozart. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Temple Etz Rimon Shares in Interfaith Projects with Pilgrim Church; Both Congregations are Committed to Social Justice, Inclusiveness

Every synagogue has its own personality. Farber said that Temple Etz Rimon’s is that “it is very, very friendly. Warm. You come into the building and you are greeted. You are welcomed at the oneg. They grab you; they love you. People will say, ‘Oh my God, you are so friendly!’ We are. There is no snobbishness in the group. It’s really a nice congregation. Unfortunately, it is getting smaller and smaller.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Ben Dishman, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Jewish Community Foundation’s Leadership Transition

Beth Sirull completes her tenure as CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego on March 15, when she will be succeeded by Jeremy Pearl, who currently is the foundation’s chief financial officer. [SDJW Staff]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Israel, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Chaim Potok

In 1967 Potok published The Chosen, and in 1969 a sequel The Promise, which helped delineate differences between Orthodox and Hasidic Jews.  The Chosen was made into a film in 1981.  In the interim,  the Potoks moved to Jerusalem in 1970, returning to the states in 1977.  Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev was published in 1972. [SDJW staff]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Love Triangle is Focus of ‘The Age of Innocence’ at Old Globe

The story itself centers on a love triangle between Newland Archer (Callum Adams), Countess Ellen Olenska (Shereen Ahmed), and May Wellend (Delphi Borich).  Countess Olenska returns to America after fleeing her abusive husband in Europe.  She thinks and dresses very differently than the rest of New York society causing her to scandalize some and be idolized by others.  [Sandi Masori]

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San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Barbara Myerhoff

Following advice to “study your own,” Myerhoff began fieldwork on the elderly Jews at the Israel Levin Center in Venice, California, resulting in a 1977 Oscar-winning short documentary film, Number Our Days, and in 1979 a book of the same title. [SDJW staff]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

OpEd: Faulconer Seeks Profit by Driving a Wedge into the Jewish Community

I cannot stay silent when I see former Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s calculating, cunning and opportunistic attempt to fundraise off the hurt and pain our Jewish community is experiencing.  Faulconer’s crass attempt to pad his campaign coffers with cash while pretending to be a friend of our community shall not go unnoticed. [Laurie Black]

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Antisemitism, California, Israel, Opinion, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jackie Gmach Utilizes the Arts to Teach Lessons of the Holocaust and the Tree of Life Synagogue

That drawing inspired Gmach to develop “We Are The Tree of Life,” a project focusing on Holocaust education utilizing the arts to promote a message of hope and survival. Literature, music, dance, poetry and drawings created by prisoners in the concentration camps and ghettos during World War II show that beauty can survive, even when experiencing unspeakable horrors. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘Chicago’ Features Minimal Set and Costumes, Maximal Choreography

We follow the story of two murderesses; Roxie Hart (Katie Frieden) and Velma Kelly (Kaitlin Brown) and their sensational murder trials.  Being that it’s set in the roaring 20s which didn’t have modern day social media, the flashy and charismatic and lawyer Billy Flynn (Connor Sullivan) is able to manipulate the press and jury with wild and conflicting stories about his clients, or as he calls it razzle-dazzle, in his attempts to acquit his client. [Sandi Masori]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ Revisited in Tel Aviv Performance

At the performance in Tel Aviv last week the audience sat in rapt silence as the orchestra played and the choir and soloists sang, bringing the majesty and drama of Verdi’s music to life. In Israel of today, with war being waged in the Gaza Strip and skirmishes raging in the north of the country, the performance of the Requiem has special significance. In the plaza of the nearby Tel Aviv Museum families of the hostages held in Gaza were demonstrating in order to convince the government to do more to get them released. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Praise for ‘Fifths’ Series Celebrating TICO’s 50th Anniversary

In honor of its jubilee year, the 50th year since the orchestra was founded, TICO is performing at each of its concerts the fifth symphony of a great master. This concert opened with the most famous of all, Beethoven’s Fifth. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA